Saturday, August 29, 1998 Published at 08:18 GMT 09:18 UKEntertainmentStill a thriller at 40?Jackson's marriage to Lisa Marie Presley lasted just over a yearAs the world's most famous male pop star follows his female counterpart, Madonna, into middle age, John Murphy reports on Michael Jackson's road to fame and whether his career could now be on a downwards slide.

On Saturday the child star who, in many ways, refused to grow up, reaches middle age. Now on his second marriage and a father of two, he remains as unconventional as ever.

Michael Jackson has never really been the boy next door. By the age of four he
was part of the family pop group, The Jackson Five, soon to become famous
as its tiny frontman, strutting his stuff on stage in
the style of James Brown.

The mother of his children Debbie Rowe

It was in 1979 that Michael Jackson's solo music career really took off, with
the album Off the Wall, which included the number one singles Don't Stop
Till You Get Enough and Rock With You.

He continued to tour and record with The Jacksons, as the Jackson Five had
been renamed. But already media speculation was growing about his private life.

He was portrayed as a figure trapped in an eternal childhood, surrounded by
toys and pet animals, and insulated from the outside world.

Wanna be startin' somethin'

Then, in 1982, Michael was catapulted into mega-stardom with the release of his album Thriller which remains the most successful LP of all time, selling over 40 million copies by the early 1990s.

It included a string of hit singles, accompanied by extravagant promotional videos, like that for Billie Jean.

In 1983 Jackson accepted the largest individual sponsorship deal in history
from the soft drinks company Pepsi-Cola.

Jackson owns rights to most of the Fab Four's songs

He is a very rich man who is
estimated to have amassed a fortune of at least $1bn. Not all of
this has come from his music.

He has shown himself to be an astute businessman
also, particularly when he bought the ATV Music company in the 1980s, which
gave him the rights to most of the Beatles' songs - the biggest-earning
catalogue in pop music.

More recently he has signed a business deal with a
member of the Saudi royal family, setting up a
company which aims to deliver integrated global family entertainment.

Describing the deal in 1996, Michael Jackson said: "My earliest aspiration to be actively involved in all dimensions of the global
multi-media explosion was derived from decades of concert tours throughout the
world.

"During these travels I heard the heartbeats of millions of fans who
shared their hopes, their loves and their fears and, most importantly, their
desire for a better life.

"It was during this time that I began to appreciate
that global family entertainment could bring peace, brotherhood and love to the
world."

Related to this enterprise, Michael Jackson later announced his intention to
set up a theme park in Poland.

HIStory

Jackson: Spends little time with his wife

But it is perhaps for his private life that he is best known.

There have been
constant allegations of him being mad, sexually and emotionally retarded, a
recluse who prefers the company of young children and his chimpanzees to
adults.

In 1993 he abruptly cancelled a world tour, announcing that
he had become addicted to pain killers.

The following year he married Elvis
Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie.

Many people assumed it was a public relations
exercise to try to make child abuse allegations he was facing go away.

Others suggested Lisa Marie wanted Jackson's money for the Church of Scientology, to which she belongs. She bluntly denied both suggestions.

"I'm not going to marry somebody for any other reason than the fact that I fall in love with him. Period. And they [tabloid newspapers and others]
can eat it if they want to think anything different, to put it succinctly."

Both Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie appeared on prime time television about
their lives together. One of America's top television journalists, Diane
Sawyer, asked Michael about the allegations that he had abused 13-year
old Jody Chandler.

Michael denied the question, saying: "I could never harm a child or anyone. It's not in my heart. It's not who I am. I'm not even interested in that."

After a long investigation, no criminal charges were brought against the
singer, but in a civil case an out-of-court settlement, estimated at between $5 and $20m, was paid to the boy's family.

She's out of my life

Jackson's marriage to Lisa Marie lasted just over a year-and-a-half, when she
filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." He did not appear
particularly upset.

By the end of the year, Michael Jackson's publicity team confirmed the
startling news that he was to be a father, and that the mother of the child was his long-time nurse and friend, Debbie Rowe.

In November 1996 the couple
married in Australia, during a concert tour. Debbie Rowe has since given
Jackson two children, a son called Prince Michael Junior and a daughter named
Paris Katherine.

Rumours, denied by Jackson and his publicity team, have
abounded that Debbie was paid a vast sum of money to be a surrogate mother and
that she was artificially inseminated.

What is clear, though, is that the two
spend little time together and he brings up the children, with the help of a
team of nannies and nurses, mainly in Europe.

In recent years Jackson has been trying to sell his Neverland ranch in
California; not that he needs the money, although his record sales have never again reached the peak of Thriller.

And, despite becoming a father, Michael Jackson
has looked more and more out of touch with the real world.

He is as reclusive
as ever and, as he reaches 40, many are still wondering if he will ever grow
up.